Back for round two, guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jan Hammer united for a collaboration once again -- 1982's Here to Stay -- barely a year after their debut appeared. Like the debut (1981's Untold Passion), the album is a combination of both player's prog, fusion, and rock backgrounds -- although a short songwriting leash prevents most of the tracks from stretching past the four-minute mark. The duo were obviously aiming for the top of the charts with the album-opener (whose accompanying video was quite popular during the early days of MTV), "No More Lies," which sounds like a song tailor-made for Pat Benatar. Elsewhere, Hammer gets to spread his wings on "Time Again," while Schon shows off his hard rocking side with the Zeppelin-esque "Turnaround." Like Untold Passion, Here to Stay was a moderate chart success. But despite its bold title, the album would prove to be the last Schon/Hammer collaboration.

Depending on your point of view, The Find is either an album whose ideology and overall vibe are stuck in the '90s or a new-millennium hip-hop album that bears influence of the foundation while providing an updated spin from a talented artist.

The latter sentiment is most accurate. Producer/MC Ohmega Watts and a host (and that means host) of friends make The Find a worthwhile listen for any hip-hop fan. With Watts in control, he takes obvious nods to iconic producers (Pete Rock, Diamond D -- he rhymes similar to Large Professor) and the sound of hip-hop's '90s renaissance, while rearranging it in his own distinct way. The six-minute "A Request" is an updated '90s head-nodder with a two-minute rideout that appropriates everything from Souls of Mischief to Gang Starr, with some timpani/cowbell percussion to boot. Ohmega lays down a gritty, strutting groove for "Full Swing" as MCs Neogen and Deacon join him on the mike for an old-fashioned cipher. But even in the midst of a staple track like this, Ohmega manages to finds about 20 seconds in the middle of the tune to do some electronic space traveling. Watts also shows himself a capable and diverse producer, venturing outside the realm of the hip-hop idiom. "Your Love" is a hip-hop/soul vehicle for singer Tiffany Johnson, while "Treasure Hunt" (featuring Sugar Candy) is straight-up authentic dancehall-style reggae. The electric guitar shredding through "Groovin' on Sunshine" highlights one of his several largely instrumental tracks. The Find is very close to a perfect creative balance between exploration and traditionalism, and an impressive debut from a hip-hop commodity.

As can be expected with a collection that spans the years 1966 to 1971, a time when the stylistic curve changed by the month, Grapes of Wrath is wildly inconsistent. The music is certainly derivative, but the songs are fairly accomplished derivations, so much so that listening to the collection becomes an exercise in "pick the influence." "If Anyone Should Ask" pounds like a Dave Clark Five garage outtake (and, thus, not on a level with actual DC5); "Not a Man" is subpar "Mr. Tambourine Man folk-rock (and as the "in sound" of 1967, received considerable local airplay); "Irene" is an answer to the New Vaudeville Band's "Winchester Cathedral" with a bit of Beatles and the Lovin' Spoonful thrown in; "Life's Not for Me (Only for You)" is a post-Revolver, sitar-singed raga dirge, completely of its time, but still enjoyable; and "If She Leaves Me" betrays debts, as does much of the recorded output here, to John Lennon. The Grapes of Wrath really began coming into their own as writers and musicians in 1968, reaching its undeniable early peak with "Have a Good Time on Me." Despite the wall of guitars that opens the song, "Have a Good Time on Me" is a fine piece of soulful pop/rock, like the Buckinghams without horns, but it is even more complex, adding a nice section in the middle as well as a coda coated in Beatles/Beach Boys harmonies. There was more decent music to follow, namely "Makin' It Through 71," a personal narrative on main songwriter Steve Whitehurst's difficult year (but also a walk through a Paul McCartney-styled, late-Beatles rocker) and "Shades of Lillian White," which marries the pretty acoustic work of George Harrison and McCartney circa White Album and Let It Be. But even those were disjointed in parts, as the band began fracturing. Grapes of Wrath won't change anyone's world, but it is a visible window into the changing face of pop music during the Vietnam era.